Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The Kwara State Police Command yesterday night said that, it had rescued the four Turkish expatriates that were kidnapped last Saturday at Gbale Village in Edu Local Government Area of the state
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, disclosed this in Ilorin while speaking with journalists on the rescue operation of the state police command.
The commissioner who was flanked by the four rescued Turkish nationals and the Chief of Staff to state governor, Mr. Adisa Logun said the rescue was made possible by the support received from the Inspector General of Police and the local vigilante group.
According to him, the command had been working round the clock since they were abducted last Saturday night at Gbale Village with the local vigilante and the IGP anti rescue and intelligence team.
He said that, apart from this, “our own anti kidnapping and anti-robbery squad and operation Harmony as well as Fulani group around the area supported our efforts to rescue them from the kidnappers.”
Egbetokun added that, “Four of the six gang members who were involved in the act have been arrested while others are still at large.”
The commissioner noted that, “the arrest we made put pressure on other members of the gang to release the abductees.”
He pointed out further that, “The kidnappers initially demanded for N400 million but they later reduced it to N100 million but I want to say here that no ransom was paid in the release of the hostages.”
While thanking everybody involved in the rescue of the hostages, like the Fulani group in the area, vigilante group, state government and people of the state, Egbetokun said the abductees would be flown to Abuja immediately.
He said that, “Police doctor is attending to them and they would be taken to Abuja where they will be released to their company. I also want to add here that the kidnapping took place at Gwugwu not Gbale as we earlier said.
The hostages have been flown to Abuja as at the time of filing this report.
It would be recalled that a six-man armed gang at a local drinking joint in Gbale village, Edu LG area of Kwara State abducted the Turkish expatriates
It was reliably gathered that the incidence occurred at about 10pm last Saturday night while the men were having fun at the local joint in Gbale village.
The abducted men’s identities were later known as Yasin Colak (33), Senerapal (40), Ergun Yurdakul (35) and Seyit Keklik (25).
The victims are said to be expatriates working with Instabul concrete limited, Gbale.
Sources added that six men from the village armed with cutlasses and local guns had stormed the joint and shot sporadically into the air to disperse people in the area.
Having successfully dispersed the people in the joint and neighbours, and threatened them with cutlasses, they were said to have immediately taken away the expatriates and ran away into the Bush.
THISDAY gathered that residents in Gbale community now live in palpable fear as a result of the sad development.
The development which had immediately spread around the state had also created panic among the residents particularly the expatriates living in the state.
